Crickets, They're What's For Dinner

Insects are swarming the menu at a new restaurant in London. Owners say plating up bugs with scrumptious seasonings will help people and the planet. 

At the world's first bug-based restaurant, if it's not creepy and crawly, you won't find it on the menu.

"People are often quite surprised at how meaty insects are, but they are meat. We're not having to do much wizardry to keep it very meaty," says Leo Taylor, Co-founder of Yum Bug Restaurant in the British capital.

Eating bugs is nothing new. In many parts of the world, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, insects are seen as a delicacy.

Yum Bug Restaurant in London serves up courses of crickets that highlight international cuisines.

"What's really important to us is we showcase this as an ingredient that's versatile, that you can cook into all sorts of dishes. We've got Mexican dishes, we've got tacos, we've got burrata, Italian stuff, we've got pasta, we've just got a new cricket lasagna on the menu today, we've got Middle Eastern,” says Taylor.

The bugs are packed full of protein, and there’s a perk for the climate too.

“Insects are one of the most sustainable proteins on Earth. Our crickets produce 15 times less carbon compared to beef per kilogram of protein. But they also are packed full of nutrition. And whole crickets have got more iron than spinach, more calcium than milk, more potassium than bananas, more B12 than red meat, the list keeps going, so they're an incredible superfood. And if you can capture all of that from what's otherwise from feed, that's otherwise going to waste, and you can get this fully circular system and a delicious sustainable superfood at the end of it,” Taylor explains.

The cricket creations are causing quite the buzz with customers. Miguel Galindo says he and his partner tried almost the whole menu.

“We tried the burrata, we tried the pulled pork tacos... no, the pulled cricket tacos, the broccoli, the salad as well. And it was really nice. Particularly the kebab one. It was quite tasty. It was quite filling. It was really nice,” he says.

Customer Bianca Bridges says she and her friend Zena Kamgaing can’t get enough.

“We're sat here just literally popping crickets in our mouth like little snacks. They’re great, amazing.”

The edible insect industry is expected to grow by almost 50 percent between 2023 and 2032, according to the Global Market Insights research and consulting group. Insects are widely seen as an option for climate-friendly food production, as farming insects takes less space, causes less deforestation and emissions compared to livestock.